Day 68: A Tree Falls in the Forest
Rain continues, but the group sees good birds nonetheless.
March 9, 2015, Shiripuno Lodge, Ecuador — The diversity of Amazonian terra firme (unflooded) forest is amazing. Today our group mostly walked the same trails as we did yesterday around Shiripuno Lodge, and half of the birds we encountered were different from one day to the next. Three days just isn’t enough to cover a place like this!
Still, you can see a lot in a short period. Between dawn and dusk today, on foot and by canoe, we found 110 species of birds, including some good ones: Black-necked Red-Cotinga, Tiny Hawk, Great Jacamar, Fiery Topaz, a Tawny-bellied Screech-Owl eating a big bug…
The rain continued on and off with a light, soaking drizzle, and the forest is squelching. Throughout the day we heard trees falling at various distances, and, just before lunch, a big one snapped and fell across the river right behind our cabins while we watched; if it had toppled 90 degrees from where it fell, it would have hit the roof! (And yes, it definitely made a sound.) I guess even the rainforest has trouble handling the extra weight of so much water.
New birds today: 18
Year list: 1543
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